Growing Fast: New Resource List

First things first, a garden update: we have achieved 100% sprouts!

Huzzah. This morning we started seeing the cosmos and zinnias, chard, watermelons, and every one of my okra seeds...that's right, people, okra.

And now, after a morning water and hours of steamy sunlight, the corn shoots have arrived. This is timely because the pole beans we're expecting them to support are dwarfing them at the moment. We're going to pretend this situation will work itself out. We're also pretending the ant colony that moved into a corner of the tomato plot is not actually filled with fire ants, though they look suspiciously pinchy.

Instead of lying (away from the ants) to watch that corn come in, I've been looking for answers to a question raised yesterday in conversation with my friend Tiffany in San Francisco. Tiffany and I have been buddies exploring the vast and wonderful sustainable food scene in the Bay Area. We've been inspired and overwhelmed by the information flowing from Civil Eats, Roots of Change, and CUESA to name a few favorites. Classes, festivals like Eat Real, and even the "Reading Seeds" food author lecture series, provide entree to much knowledge and enthusiasm.

Finally, four decades after "Diet for a Small Planet" was first published, resources abound for curious consumers, budding backyard gardeners, urban homesteaders, and citizen foodie proselytizers to get educated and get involved. We don't take issue with this. This stuff is hot.

The question we have is this: "How does one get involved in the sustainable food movement professionally?"

And while I love you Grist, there must be something more concrete than Auden Schendler's article, "How Do I Find a Green Job?", which provides good advice but lacks specifics.

So for those of you spending Friday afternoon at your desk daydreaming about just that, you're in luck because I have answers:

1) Resources for the curious exist and many are now compiled on the left-hand side of this blog. Some have been percolating for decades, like the UC Davis SAREP resource page, which lists publications for everything from how to start a community garden to local food system planning. Some, like Sustainable Food Jobs and the National Young Farmers' Coalition are only months old. Things are moving fast and I need your help, so please email me with resources.

2) Know it All's Sow: Coming soon, As The Bee Flies will feature interviews with entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders, chefs, farmers, filmmakers, authors, activists, sustainability professionals, educators, and financiers who have made the leap and who want to share advice with a new crop of foodies seeking a fresh start.

3) Incubation...under construction: At this week's Slow Money Symposium, Austin food blogger Salt and Time boldly pointed out to potential investors that it isn't only money he needs, it's incubators for new small businesses, it's training programs, and it's mentoring from the folks who have already been there and done that. Now, THAT'S a question I can sink my teeth into professionally and passionately and I'll keep you posted as the answer emerges...

In the meantime, enjoy your Earth Day weekend and get out there and garden it up.

Photo: Pole bean with corn sprouts barely visible (and I mean barely.)

Transplant

Nose nearly to the ground, I found the first sprouts in the garden today.

The sunflowers have decided to show themselves on this overcast Austin day. I'll take that as a good sign.

I'm pretty proud of those sunflowers, planted less than a week ago and only 4 days after my arrival as a Texas transplant from the San Francisco Bay Area. According to Sarah - a wonderful friend and my hostess in this foreign land - I've been a busy bee. I can't help it: I'm too excited and everyone in Austin is just so nice.

Since attending the Organic Farming Research Foundation's conference in 1999, I've been watching food and farming with much interest from the sidelines. I didn't go far afield: my professional life to date has been in the environmental nonprofit sector, learning from the original activists how using your moxie, being strategic and creative, creating networks of friends and collaborators, and flashing the cash are the necessary tools to get the good work done in this saving the world biz.

In February this year, I was finally pulled into food by the opportunity to work with April Davila to produce her exciting project, A Month Without Monsanto. April's journey has been followed by 20,000 people since February. We're now looking for an agent to help make this labor of love into a book. In the meantime, I figured as long as I was uprooting my career, why not uproot my comfy (and pricey) Bay Area life and transplant myself? And then came Austin.

I'm here to figure out ways to learn more, give back to, and get involved with the sustainable food movement in this community and beyond. It's a dynamic movement at the moment, and evolving by the minute.

There's a tight-knit group of Austin Food Bloggers, all listed on Austin American-Statesman writer, Addie Broyle's "Relish Austin" column and food blog. I'm just learning how each of them writes it up about Austin, so this blog will likely evolve as well. I'm not a fan of wheel re-inventions.

I am a fan of connecting people, so for the time being that's going to be my goal. I'd like to talk to people involved in different aspects of this movement and have them help me and you learn what's up and how we can get involved in getting the good eats to our plates.

Photo: Vegetable transplants at The Natural Gardener